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Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a CIA-owned airline that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia.
China
CAT was created by General Claire L. Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) Air Transport. Using surplus World War II aircraft, CAT airlifted supplies and food into war-ravaged China. During the Chinese Civil War, under contract with the Chinese Nationalist government and later the Central Intelligence Agency, CAT flew supplies and ammunition into China to assist Kuomintang forces on the Chinese mainland. With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949, CAT helped to evacuate thousands of Chinese to the island of Taiwan.
By 1950 the airline was facing financial difficulties. The CIA formed a private Delaware corporation called Airdale, Inc., which formed a subsidiary corporation called CAT, Inc. The subsidiary corporation purchased nominal shares of the Civil Air Transport. CAT maintained a civilian appearance by flying scheduled passenger flights while simultaneously using other aircraft in its fleet to fly covert missions.
Korean War
During the Korean War, CAT airlifted thousands of tons of war materials to supply United States military operations, including support of Kuomintang holdouts based in Burma. On 29 November 1952, a CAT C-47 left Seoul on a mission to collect an anti-Communist Chinese agent in the Manchurian foothills, using a "pole and line" technique. The mission appears to have been compromised and Chinese forces were waiting for them. Approaching low over the ground, it was set upon by small-arms fire and crash-landed near the town of Antu in China's Jilin province . The pilots, Robert Snoddy and Norman Schwartz were killed during the crash and subsequent fire, and were buried nearby. The two CIA officers, John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau survived and were immediately taken prisoner by Chinese forces, who were waiting for the flight. Downey and Fecteau were held by China and regularly interrogated for nearly twenty years. Fecteau was released unexpectedly following Nixon's visit to China in 1972, but Downey was only released after Washington publicly acknowledged their spy mission in 1973.
At the time, the families of the pilots were told that they crashed into the Sea of Japan on a routine flight to Tokyo, in order to keep the CIA's covert actions in China secret. In 2001, China allowed the US Defence Department's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) office to conduct a recovery effort for the bodies of the pilots. In 2005, the POW/MIA office announced that it had identified the remains of Robert Snoddy using DNA analysis. Schwartz's remains have not been successfully recovered.
Indochina
CAT transported supplies and troops for French operations during the First Indochina War. At the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, CAT supplied the French garrison by parachuting troops and supplies with C117 "Flying Boxcar." Seven CAT pilots involved in the operation received the title Chevaliers de la Légion d’Honneur at a special ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 2005. With the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia, CAT’s mission changed. In 1959 it was reorganized as Air America, which supported covert operations throughout Indochina during the Second Indochina War, particularly in Laos.
External links
- The CAT / Air America Archive
- Air America web site
- BBC News: Search for 'spy' pilots in China
- National League of POW/MIA Families
History of the Republic of China | History of Taiwan | History of China | CIA front organizations
"Civil Air Transport"